(Clearwisdom.net) December 10, 2008 was International Human Rights Day. On this day, on the side of a road in Rovaniemi, the legendary home town of Santa Claus in the northern part of Finland, Xiao Jin, a Falun Gong practitioner, together with her husband Tommy (who is not a practitioner ), hung a banner and posters introducing Falun Gong, and how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) brutally persecutes Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China. There were also posters calling on people to help rescue Xiao Jin's mother and protesting against the inhuman persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP, which has persisted for the past nine years.
Xiao Jin holds a poster calling for help to rescue her mother Chen Zhenping. A Finish man signs the petition to express his support, despite the severe cold.
With Tommy's help, this Finish lady learned the facts about Falun Gong.
The temperature on this day was 10 degrees below zero with a cold wind chilling one to the bone. Yet the banner with the red characters spelling "Falun Gong" on a golden background, pictures, and posters attracted a lot of attention.
On seeing the banner from a distance, Tony, a local resident, ran over and said: "Oh, I know about Falun Gong. When I was in Japan, I watched the news about how the CCP persecutes human rights and controls people's freedom of belief and it (the CCP) even sells organs removed from living Falun Gong practitioners. I know, I know that this is a very evil thing. We must stop such abhorrent conduct happening in the world."
He immediately signed the petition and repeatedly said that he really wanted to do something to stop the persecution of human rights in China. Later, Tony came back again, as he wanted to buy coffee for Xiao Jin. He said: "Falun Gong practitioners have a strong will. What they are doing is quite right. I would like to know more about Falun Gong so that I can start to practice." So Xiao Jin left him the telephone number of a practitioner in Finland he could contact.
Pushing a baby carrier, a middle-aged mother was passing by. On seeing the poster on which was written, "SOS, Please Rescue My Mother" in Xiao Jin's hands, she stopped and read it quietly and signed her name on the petition. She felt reluctant to leave after praying. So Xiao Jin told her the story about her mother: Last July, the second day after Xiao Jin arrived in Finland, Chen Zhen Ping, her mother who practises Falun Gong in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, was again arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to three years in a forced labour camp by the CCP agents. At the moment, she is still in a forced labor camp.
Opposite the street is a high school. After school, students who passed by the bus stop also came over one after another to look at the pictures. After that, they signed the petition offering their support.
Xiao Jin's father-in-law is a taxi driver. He was deeply moved after seeing this and asked for some leaflets. He said that he also wanted more customers in his taxi to know the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. He also helped collect signatures so as to enable more people to participate in stopping the persecution of Falun Gong.
Category: Rallies & Protests
